February Dinners

It’s a large enough task for me to try to get dinner on the table in a timely and competent fashion that I don’t care to spend the time taking pictures while I prep, and I’m so hungry by the time I’m done I forget to take a picture before I dig in! Still, here are the list of entrees I recommend which I made in February.

Successful Internet Recipes

• Butter Chicken - I always forget this one needs to marinate overnight. We really prefer tikka masala, but this recipe is easier to prep.
• Chicken Peanut Chow Mein - This dish is very Americanized, but still tasty. Don't buy noodles from the Asian section of the grocery; save a few dollars and buy 4 packs of Ramen Noodles and toss out the flavor packet.
• Italian Meatball Sandwiches - This was a repeat from January because the recipe made plenty to freeze :)
• Caesar Chicken Burgers - Great! I bookmarked this recipe as a bit of a wildcard to mix up our normal routines, and it was delicious. It's legitimately a "burger" by my defintion because it uses ground chicken.
• Creamy Rosemary Penne - This recipe is one of our go-to dishes. Usually my chicken turns out dry, so this time I took a different approach by precooking the chicken in a crock pot with Italian dressing. Unfortunately, somehow the texture of the crock pot chicken made the dish very reminiscent of Tuna Noodle Casserole.
• Alfredo Chicken Bake - LOVE! I used HEB frozen Mediterranean Mix of vegetables, and I made my own alfredo saucefrom scratch. This dish was awesome: fast, minimal prep, and tasty. I baked the dish in the same pan I made the sauce in. The only change is that I should omit the garlic from the alfredo sauce in the future because the breadsticks contributed plenty of garlic on their own.
• Grilled Sandwiches - The HEB medium cheddar we used overwhelmed the sandwich, yet it was still tasty. We served this with soup.
• Homemade Pizza - Ya know, homemade pizza is nice, but Papa Murphy's is actually more cost effective and a lot less demanding.

Print Recipes

• Chicken, Rice, and Vegetable Casserole
• Sloppy Joes
• Hamburgers
• Steak with Califlower Gratin
• 12 Boy Curry
• Tacos
• Stir Fry featuring leftover veggies

Successful Yet Won't Be Repeated Internet Recipes

• Slower Cooker Beef Ragout - This dish just didn't speak to me. The recipe made a ton, yet I've been reluctant to pull the leftovers out of the freezer. I love cinnamon and allspice, but I want this to be a comforting, home-like dish and - to my tongue - they just don't taste that way in an entree. This is probably because I don't have a drop of Greek in me. The recipe was successful.
• Cranberry Glazed Turkey Meatballs - Another successful recipe that just wasn't to my palate. The dish was lovely, citrusy and it had a surprising, pleasant, floral note. It was pretty. It was a nice change from the usual, yet we found ourselves reluctantly divvying up the leftovers. We plan to try the cranberry sauce on a pork chop later.

Lumpy Ceramic Pots

Way back in January, a friend got a great idea to try a "Going Throwing!" class at FirePit Ceramics. I was eager to get my hands muddy again after a decade or more since my last ceramics experience. From these pots, it is hard to tell if I ever had any prior experience! Five minutes before the end of the one hour class, I realized how the FirePit Ceramic teachers had instructed me to use the wheel was the opposite positioning of what I have used in the past. I’m blaming that oversight on my part and the softness of white clay for my poor performance. Still, white clay is the prettiest to paint.

I’m thinking that there is an object lesson somewhere in this pot if it hasn’t already run out the bottom. The danger with keeping it is that eventually I’ll have to keep the pot because I’ve kept it for so long. Funny how longevity messes with my perceived value of an object.

A Second [Failed] Attempt

The difference from last time is that I have since acquired a candy thermometer. There's improvement. I think. It still wasn't edible.

Pinterest Challenge

Pinterest is the answer to the just over 100 links I had bookmarked as something to remember for the future, but I never could recall what those things were based on the title of the link alone. The problem was so glaring I'm a bit ashamed I didn't invent and code Pinterest on my own. Pinterest finally provided me with a visual representation of what I wished to recall.

I hear Pinterest is spoken of in two ways. First, "I love Pinterest! So many pretty ideas I never use. Second, "Nothing ever turns out like it does on Pinterest, I don't know why I bother."

My experience with Pinterest doesn't agree with either of those extremes. I start on my own Pinterest boards when I'm looking for a craft, an organization technique, or a menu. I also frequently delete pins that have sat idle or that, despite looking for something to do, I just cannot bring myself to do it. (e.g. A recipe requires half a gallon of oil for frying and for the past year I've been unable to commit myself to that level of clean up. If it hasn't happened in 52 weeks it ain't ever going to happen. Delete.) Visiting the boards frequently and being willing to delete things means that I actually follow through on the ideas and that I let go of the ideas that I'm no longer interested in.

And failure? Yup. It happens. See also the bunny rabbit buns I tried last week. They were more ugly blobs than bunny rabbits. If there are two life lessons that apply to Pinterest they are: one, know your abilities and dictate your plans and expectations accordingly, and two, it is ok to fail.

Ok, I'm stepping off my soapbox for now.

So, the egomaniac behind that rant believes she's pretty good at actually doing the things she collects on Pinterest. The thing is, I never actually wave my little, decoupaged banner of triumph to the world. I'm terrible at blogging about things. (See also the aforementioned blobs. Not that you wanted to see them.)

For that reason I'm participating in the Pinterest Challenge. I first heard of the challenge through Alli.It's a little challenge where you select 6 Pinterest pins, complete them in the next month before April, and blog about them in one or multiple posts. Yeah, it's that last part that's going to get me.

Here are the pins I've selected:

Um, yes, I am able to count, and, yes, there are more than 6 there. It's just, I already have 3 of those on my grocery shopping list and it feels to be cheating a tinsy bit if they're already planned and practically in the works for March.

1. Canvas Lined Diaper Box
2. Animal Cookies
3. Cloth Pull Baby Toy
4. Fabric Notes
5. Painting with Yogurt
6. Roti Chicken
7. Table Runner Rolling
8. Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

If you want to participate: choose "six" things on Pinterest that you want to try between now and April, create a blog post, and link up by clicking this link.

January Dinners

Here are some dinner ideas from around the web. I made each of these in the past 3 weeks. This selection is the recipes I can link to which were successful. Successful being defined as worth making again in the future or worth trying again in the future with modifications. Other dinners without internet presence included: spaghetti, ginger chicken with coconut, creamy ranch chicken, sweet & sour meatballs, steak stir fry with vegetables, honey lime enchiladas, and hummus baked chicken.

• Korean Beef and Rice Bowl - I like this dish because of all its veggies, and it comes together quickly if you purchase the carrots already matchsticked.
• Cuban Tacos - This was a new dish I tried. I liked it, but they were very dry. I don't know if that was a cooking mistake or just the nature of the dish. I feel like they need some sort of southwest-inspired ranch sauce.
• Chicken Pot Pie - Little Hands is particularly fond of this dish; the boy loves a good cream sauce. Making one pie alone is too high an effort for a single meal, so I double the recipe and freeze the second pie. I also stick with store-bought crusts on this one to reduce the workload. To this recipe I add more salt and nutmeg to taste, a clove of garlic per pie, and I substitute the black pepper with white pepper.
• Drunken Noodles - This dish struck my fancy, and my downfall was the rice noodles required 30 minutes of soak time before cooking. I liked the dish, but didn't love it. As with all rice noodles dishes, I found myself hunger again an hour later.
• Meatball Sandwich - Another dish where I was able to freeze half the yield. I drastically cut down the onion, and I felt that was a good decision. Next time I'd take the red pepper down a bit as well. I love a good, hot dish, but the heat in this one overwhelmed the spiciness of the meatballs.
• Fajitas - Yum. I like this recipe better than the pack o seasoning I used to use. I omit the fancy sizzling step, and I just warm up the tortillas in the microwave.
• Beef Stroganoff with Dill This is a recipe that I cut in half. I also use a cheap cut of beef, slice it thin, and then cook it slowly for-ev-er.
• Disneyland Monte Cristo Sandwich My downfall on these was I don't have a thermometer to gauge oil temperature, and my oil was too cold. The other downfall is that each sandwich half takes up 4-6 minutes to cook. This is not a fast dish.
• Chicken CarbonaraIn place of the pancetta I used bacon. I also halved the recipe and doubled the bacon. Delicious despite the fact it clogs arteries.